I would like to tell the Taoiseach about a little boy who lives here in Dublin. He will have his fourth birthday in a few weeks from now. His mother wants what any other parent would want for her child, namely, for him to be happy and to have all of the opportunities that life brings. However, this little boy has complex needs. He had a preliminary team assessment for disability services nearly two years ago. He received no follow-up therapies and his family have not been contacted by the HSE to receive a full and proper assessment of need. As this little boy approaches his fourth birthday, he has spent half of his life waiting for this assessment. He is non-verbal, he finds it difficult to sleep at night and his mam is worried sick that without this assessment he will miss milestones and will not be supported to live his best life. She is worried when watching her son, who she loves so fiercely, slip through the cracks of a system that does not seem capable of meeting his needs. This little boy is not unique in the appalling way he has been treated. More than 10,000 children are waiting over a year for initial contact with their specialist children's disability network teams, CDNTs. The fact of that is a disgrace.

In March of last year, the High Court ruled that the HSE was breaking the law in its provision of children's disability services. Under the Disability Act 2005, every child with a disability is entitled to an assessment of need. This is meant to be provided to them within three months of seeking it. For thousands of children, however, that is not the case. Tá an Stát seo ag teip ar pháistí faoi mhíchumas go dona. In ionad measúnaithe a fháil ar sheirbhísí atá tuillte acu, mothaíonn siad go bhfuil siad ar liostaí feithimh gan deireadh ar bith agus tá lagmhisneach tagtha orthu. Tá a dtuismitheoirí ag deireadh na feide agus mothaíonn siad go bhfuil an Rialtas ag tabhairt neamhairde orthu.

These children deserve access to therapies to develop their speech, learn important skills and access the education they are entitled to. Early intervention is essential to help them reach their potential but sadly, that crucial period is passing so many of them by. This, in turn, places an overwhelming burden on families who feel forced to pay privately for assessments of need and for other therapies and services they simply cannot afford. They have no recourse for reimbursement from the State, despite the fact that it is the Minister for Health’s responsibility to ensure that children have these assessments and have access to services. These families and children deserve better, and well the Taoiseach knows it.

Families and children need a Government that will get to grips with this matter. They do not need vague promises that do not materialise, ad hoc statements, piecemeal approaches or platitudes, but a genuine change in children’s lives. When will the State honour its legal obligation to provide these services to children with disabilities, particularly timely assessments of need? When will families forced to go privately for assessments of need be reimbursed? When will financial supports be provided for families forced to access services privately?

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. All of us will know from our experience in our constituencies or from talking to parents while out and about around the country that many children are not getting the assessments they need in due time and that others are waiting far too long for the therapies they required. Having said that, this is an area in respect of which the Government has shown huge commitment and in which it has invested considerable resources in recent years. The Deputy will know that we have a dedicated Minister of State with responsibility for special education in Deputy Madigan and a budget of almost €2 billion. We have never had so many special needs assistants, SNAs, or so many special classes in our schools. We are also setting up new special schools where necessary. In the past ten years, we have seen an enormous transformation in the level of children who are able to access special education and we see the results of that with children doing much better than they would have if they were born ten, 20 or 30 years ago because of the enormous investment that has been made.

I know what is being done falls short in lots of different areas. That is particularly the case when it comes to providing speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and the services that children need. The sooner we get them, the better the outcomes will be. We acknowledge that. A huge amount of it is down to a shortage of staff and being able to find staff. This problem is not unique to Ireland; it exists across the world, particularly in view of the shortage of qualified therapists.

We are not sitting on our hands; we are acting. The HSE is progressing several initiatives to improve the supply of therapists into disability services and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, are deeply engaged in this work and will meet the HSE board in the coming weeks to discuss this matter and other matters. The measures that will be taken include: a confined competition to fill vacant senior posts across all disciplines on CDNTs; targeted recruitment for CDNTs; targeted international recruitment for CDNTs, with an agreed relocation allowance for people who are willing to come in from abroad; and a sponsorship programme for therapy grades. In addition, the HSE is looking at other options, including bringing in an apprentice programme for therapy grades.

We have done that in other areas, saying that there should be more ways to enter the profession. It does not have to be through the degree system or the universities and perhaps we can have an apprenticeship in this area. We have introduced the employment of graduates as graduate therapists while they are awaiting registration, so we do not have people awaiting registration who could work in the system but are told they cannot. There has been an expansion of therapy assistants in the system, with the HSE supporting individuals to return to education to qualify as therapists, and also an increase in the number of clinical placements on the CDNTs.

Despite the recruitment challenges, the HSE and the Department remain committed to progressing these efforts to increase the workforce and to improve services to children and families. I know that listing recruitment initiatives can seem somewhat removed from the very real pressures that parents, and ultimately their children, are facing, but I really cannot emphasise enough how the challenges in our CDNTs are primarily driven by shortage of staff, and how we are doing all that we can to increase the number of staff, to bring staff from abroad and to increase the number of people who are trained here.

The Taoiseach has been in government for 12 years. What he has read into the record of the Dáil just reflects a litany of failure and inefficiency, and a lack of priority given to this area and to these children. One of my colleagues, Deputy Browne, another Tipperary Deputy, heard today that a one-year-old child with autism from Tipperary got word from the HSE that the first services available to that child will be in 2028. There are other children waiting for services or assessments of need, who are being told that they will wait for that length of time. That is not acceptable. I have to say that for an individual who has been in government for 12 years to stand up and try to pretend it is all rosy and that there is not a fundamental issue here, in terms of political purpose and funding and support for the Minister of State responsible for this area, Deputy Rabbitte, is just not acceptable. We should not be standing up here citing cases of one-year-olds, two-year-olds and four-year-olds, who are left in this situation.

There are 17,000 children waiting for first contact with their specialist CDNT, and 10,000 of those children are waiting more than a year. Yet, the Taoiseach actually up and talked to me about SNAs, which is an important issue, but a separate issue. He should not try to dodge the issue. He said the Government is doing the devil and all to get more staff and therapists. The Government's countermotion stated that discussions are ongoing between the Department of Health and Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. The Government is still at the point of discussing this. Is the Taoiseach serious? Will the State reimburse those who have to go privately for assessment of needs and for services and therapies? Will it open the purse strings and support those families?

I have been in government for 12 years, and in those 12 years this country has made enormous progress. Just look at the figures that came out this morning from the Central Statistics Office, CSO. There are 2.6 million people at work and unemployment has fallen to 4.1%. Compare that to where we were 12 years ago. The Deputy does not like to talk about this, but let us not forget that her party has been in government for most of the last 20 years North of the Border. I know she does not want to talk about it, but it is a fact. I will be happy, any time, to compare the record of my party in government here with hers North of the Border, but doing so is pointless, because it will not do anything-----

-----for parents who are concerned about their children not getting therapies. If the Deputy wants to bring up my record in government, she should not think it is any surprise that I should bring up hers. I am happy to compare it anytime, point for point.

You are running down the clock.

If she brings it up again, I will bring it up again.

On the issue of assessments of need, we have a real challenge here. Assessments of need are a legal entitlement, but have become a barrier to children getting the therapies they need. We shortened the assessment of need. That helped for a period of time and reduced the waiting lists. A court decision meant that we had to reverse that-----

Yes, to do it properly.

-----and now that has created a problem.

A problem you created.

That is sometimes what happens when you put things in law with a good intention. It can backfire on you.

What about reimbursement?

On the issue of reimbursement, that is something we are going to give consideration to. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, in response to Deputy Kelly, already indicated that. When you do those things, you have to do it right. It is not unusual for us to reimburse private practitioners.

Thank you, Taoiseach. We are way over time.

We do it with respect to GPs, we do it in dentistry and we do it in pharmacy. Yes, we are open to considering that over the next couple of months when it comes to therapy, but we have to do it right because if we do it wrong it can backfire.